Self-Cooling Beverage Can

ABSTRACT

A self-cooling beverage container comprising a space between outer and inner walls, the space containing a liquid that is mixed with a chemical contained within a compartment within the base of the beverage container. The compartment within the base of the beverage container has a rupture portion located within the space between the outer and inner walls, and pressure on the base of the beverage container causes the rupture portion to open, allowing mixing of the chemical and the liquid. The chemical and the liquid react in an endothermic reaction, cooling the contents of the beverage container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of beverage containers. Moreparticularly, it relates to a beverage container that is self-cooling,allowing a beverage to be made cold without the necessity of an externalcooling source.

2. Background and Description of the Prior Art

Commercial beverage can production is a large enterprise. Cannedbeverages range from soda to juice to beer and mixed drinks. Cannedbeverages are dispensed by machines and sold by stores and venues suchas baseball and football stadiums. People carry canned beverages toparks, beaches, or simply to work for lunch. However, canned beveragesrequire cooling. This is accomplished either by using a refrigerator orice. When going to a park or the beach, this requires taking a coolerfilled with ice and beverages, adding to the amount of material that aperson has to carry with them.

Prior designs have been used to create containers that are intended tochill beverages and/or keep beverages cold. U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,680 toBaroso-Lujan for a “Self-Cooling Beverage Container With EvacuatedRefrigerant Receiving Chamber” teaches a beverage can that cools abeverage within the can through a liquid refrigerant. However, the '680patent has several drawbacks. First, it is a complex design that wouldmake the manufacture of the can expensive and potentially not costeffective given the relatively low cost of canned beverages. Secondly,the can in the '680 patent requires the refrigerant to be pressurized incompartment of the can, while a second chamber holds a vacuum, so thatwhen the partition between the compartments is mechanically broken, therefrigerant expands into the second chamber. Because the can requiresboth a pressurized chamber and a chamber that is under vacuum, the costof manufacture increases and the can must have enough structuralstrength to hold the pressure and the vacuum. Finally, any potentialleakage could be dangerous as the design relies upon refrigerantproducts that may not be safe for human consumption.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,636 to Hilado for a “Container With CoolingCapability” teaches a double-walled structure with a refrigerantcompartment to contain water or some other fluid that can be frozen soas to keep the container, and the beverage within it, cold. Thecontainer has a diaphragm that expands when the liquid freezes, allowingthe refrigerant liquid to be frozen without rupturing the container.There are several drawbacks to this design, however. First, thecontainer must be placed in a freezer prior to use so that therefrigerant liquid can be frozen. Second, the design cannot be adaptedfor use in cans that are shipped with a beverage already in them; thebeverage needs to be poured into the container after the container isprepared by being frozen. In adapting such a design for sealed beveragecans from a bottling/canning company, the end user would have to freezethe container with the beverage in it—making the design unusable forsuch a purpose.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,741 to Oakley for a “Self-Cooling Fluid ContainerWith Internal Refrigerant Chamber” teaches a beverage can with arefrigerant chamber integral to the base of the can. The can has asecond chamber and, as with the '680 to Baroso-Lujan, the second chambercontains a vacuum and the refrigerant chamber is manufactured with therefrigerant liquid under pressure. By puncturing the bottom of thevacuum chamber, the refrigerant is allowed to expand into the vacuumchamber, cooling the beverage in the same manner as the '680 patent. The'741 patent is therefore subject to the same drawbacks as the '680patent as they relate to manufacturing a beverage container that has apressurized compartment and a compartment that is required to hold avacuum. In addition, the design of the '741 invention provides coolingfor the beverage in a localized manner; i.e., only at the base of thecontainer.

What is needed, therefore, is a new design for a beverage container thatis portable, and provides a self-contained cooling means without theneed to freeze or chill the container or beverage first. It is alsodesirable to have such a container efficiently cool a beverage within bysurrounding the beverage with a compartment containing a cooling liquid.It is further desirable to have a beverage container that doesn'trequire either high pressure refrigeration liquids or chambers that mustbe placed under a vacuum.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is drawn to the cooling of beverages and, moreparticularly, to providing a self-cooling beverage container.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple,self-contained self-cooling beverage container that doesn't require theuse of external cooling means in order to chill a beverage.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide aself-cooling beverage container that may be manufactured simply, and beused by beverage companies to contain and ship their beverages in amanner that is similar to the current means of canning and shipping.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide aself-cooling beverage container that doesn't require toxic refrigerantsto cool beverages.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 a is a cutaway view of a bottom portion of a can in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 b is a view of a push top container in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view of an embodiment of a beverage container showing theinsertion of a push top container into the bottom portion of thebeverage container.

FIG. 4 is a view of an embodiment of the present invention showing aninsert with a rupture portion opened between the can and the insert.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to FIG. 1, a diagram of an embodiment of the presentsystem is shown. As shown, this embodiment of the present inventioncomprises a beverage container 101, the beverage container 101 having anexterior wall 102 and an interior wall 104, the interior wall 104disposed within the beverage container 101 such that a first space 105exists between the exterior wall 102 and the interior wall 104. Thefirst space 105 is continuous around the exterior of the inner wall 104with the exception of the top portion of the inner wall 104; the topportion of the inner wall 104 is joined with the top portion of theexterior wall 102 such that an opening (not shown) may be disposed inthe top portion of the beverage container 101 and a beverage drink iscontained within the interior space 103 created by the interior wall104. The exterior wall accepts an insert 108, which is comprised of ahollow cylindrical portion 106 attached to a base 107; the base 107 isattached to the bottom of the beverage container 101. The first space105 contains a first chemical, and the hollow cylindrical portion 106contains a second chemical. The insert 108 further comprises a ruptureportion 109, which opens when pressure is applied to the bottom of theinsert 108, allowing the first chemical to mix with the second chemical.In a preferred embodiment, the first chemical is water and the secondchemical is a power form of ammonium nitrate. When mixed, the water andthe ammonium nitrate react endothermically, cooling the beveragecontainer 101 and the contents of the interior space 103.

The insert 108 is show in FIG. 1 positioned within an opening 201 (FIG.2) in the beverage container 101. FIG. 2( a) shows the opening 201within the beverage container 101,

Referring now to FIG. 2, the beverage container 101 is shown with theopening 201 shown, with the insert 108 shown outside of the beveragecontainer 101.

FIG. 3 shows the invention with the insert 108 in position below thebeverage container 101 and oriented to be inserted 301 into the opening201.

FIG. 4 shows the beverage container 101 with the insert 108 positionedwithin the opening 201. Pressure 401, usually applied manually, to thebottom portion 107 of the insert 108 causes a rupture 402 in the ruptureportion 109. The rupture 402 allows the contents of the insert 108 tomix with the contents of the first space 105, the resulting chemicalreaction being endothermic and cooling the contents of the beveragecontainer.

What is claimed is:
 1. a self-cooling beverage container comprising: acan having an exterior cylindrical wall with a top and bottom, the tophaving opening means into a first compartment; an interior cylindricalwall extending a first compartment defined by the wall, the top and thebottom, containing a beverage; a second compartment located between thefirst compartment and the exterior wall of the beverage container, thesecond compartment filled with water; the beverage container furtherhaving an opening located in the base of the exterior cylindrical wall;an insertable portion that is positioned within the opening located inthe base of the exterior cylindrical wall, the insertable portioncomprising a base, a rupture portion distal to the base, the ruptureportion located within the second compartment, and the insertableportion having an interior compartment containing a chemical.
 2. Theself-cooling beverage container of claim 1, wherein the contents of theinterior compartment of the insertable portion mixable with the contentsof the second compartment when exterior pressure is applied to the baseof the insertable portion in sufficient manner to rupture the ruptureportion of the insertable portion.
 3. The self cooling beveragecontainer of claim 1, wherein the refrigerant fluid is an ammonium basedchemical.
 4. The self cooling beverage container of claim 3 wherein theammonium based chemical is a solid.
 5. The self cooling beveragecontainer of claim 3 wherein the ammonium based chemical is a liquid.